Bloodaxe

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

Although a little younger than you, we have taken the opposite approach. We have too little time left to delay taking our final holidays, so will put up with the hassle, and understand the risks involved. So, all our 2022 cruises are staying firmly booked.

Obviously,  everyone has a different approach,  and there is no right  or  wrong.

Very true, we have great memories of travels all over the world and they can never be taken away.

We have travelled extensively in the past and only started cruising relatively late in life.

Good luck to anyone who still has the desire and means to travel, it's just that events in our lives in recent times have made us more cautious in our approach. 

49 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

We did seriously consider that, but we've become so focused recently on covid regarding choosing and moving cruises about, then the disappointment and frustration to have them cancelled that tbh, I haven't the enthusiasm to begin searching and choosing again. We have other things that are more important at the moment. I may think differently in 6 months when the balance is due, but until then cruising is the bottom of the list.

Seriously John, you get to an age where, speaking personally,  you can't afford to keep waiting for something that may not happen. 

Avril

I feel just the same Avril, we decided to give cruising a miss some time ago.

At our age In our mid seventies it is just not worth the hassle or the possible risk involved.

I agree that there are more important things in life like family, we found that to our cost a couple of years ago.

I am fortunate that I still drive and last September we had a few days in Wales close were we lived when our Son was born 50  years ago.

It was very emotional visiting places that we frequented when he was young but we enjoyed it and are booked to go back in June this year.

42 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

It does seem to be dearer in the US - possibly because of your medical system. We have annual travel insurance through our bank at a cost of £18 (about $24) a month which covers all our existing conditions (which are many!). It does include COVID cover.

Does that include age loading?, ours went up considerably once we turned 70.

11 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

What is a fire guard?

Mesh screen to place around the fireplace to prevent sparks or to keep children safe from the fire.

3 hours ago, uktog said:

When something is worse than useless we say it is as useful as a chocolate teapot

Another version of this is has useless has a chocolate fire guard.

3 hours ago, spw1947 said:

Closed to cruise ships at present, and interstate borders are difficult as Baynanno1 mentioned above, and now some quarantine issues with international air travel as a response to uncertainty about Omicron variant.

The world is in such a state of flux who knows what will happen from one day to the next.

Also be aware that the distance is about 2500 km.

 

Come down here for a proper holiday one day; it's not easy to do by cruise ship even if we do mainly live within reach of the coast.

 

Cheers,

 

Sue

Absolutely agree, cruising can never do justice to Australia, you need extensive land tours with several internal flights.

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Good morning.

It is 7°C sunny but damp after overnight rain and only a light breeze here on the NE coast of England.

There is a possibility of snow overnight ☹️

Its heading your way, severe gale warning in force from Aberdeen down the east coast has far has Middlesbrough.

50 mph winds even inland further South, looks like a wild night and all day tomorrow.

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

Lets face it, QE is a liner, designed for ocean travel, Iona is a block of flats designed to float. 

The fact that Iona cannot handle bad weather is hardly a surprise.

I agree she probably handles the weather better but only Queen Mary 2 is classed has a liner, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria are cruise ships very similar to Arcadia

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

If we had to choose anywhere in the world to live, Perth would  be near the top of  the list, but I would still want to break the journey back to the UK.

Totally agree, always break the journey if you possibly can, we have also flown J A L with stops in Japan which we enjoyed.

My main point was that Australia is so far away its nice to see has much has you can when you are there.

sorry duplicate post

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

If we had to choose anywhere in the world to live, Perth would  be near the top of  the list, but I would still want to break the journey back to the UK.

Totally agree, always break the journey if you possibly can, we have also flown J A L with stops in Japan which we enjoyed.

My main point was that Australia is so far away its nice to see has much has you can when you are there.

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Out personal preference is Kuala Lumpur, as it has more of an Asian feel to it, but Singapore has its own appeal. 

Another option to shorten the return journey is to stop off in Western Australia, Perth is a lovely City,

We did a tour of Australia year's ago and went back twice later staying in Queensland and South Australia..

A cruise will only scratch around the edges and leave you wanting more

Our Springer Spaniel would c**** his ears at the sound of fireworks and be ready for the off, a good gun dog spoiled by us but we loved him.

Wouldn't let me say it but you will know what it was that I was trying to say.

9 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Everything going up even our local garage has put the price of the car tyre air line up from 20p 

it's now 50p ... That's inflation for you 

Even  car parking, in York we always parked on Sainsburys just a short walk into town.

1 pound an hour for up to 4, you could stay 4 hours and spend 10 pound in the shop for a refund.

it was great but not any more, now 1 hour is free then 3.50 for another hour, max stay 2 hours.

If we wish to stay longer in town in future it will be park and ride, all the other car parking in York is very pricy.

38 minutes ago, yogagal47 said:

Do all Club Veranda cabins on deck 7 have a tub/shower combo with shower curtain? We have previously sailed only in club continent suites but this time we decided to save the extra $ as the Greece intensive cruise has only one sea day and we plan to be off the ship in all of the ports. This cruise is on Journey June 17th 2022.

No tub, just small shower with curtain.

1 hour ago, Adawn47 said:

The sunrise here this morning is stunning. It's worth not being able to sleep.

Avril

The lovely morning didn't last long, after the sunrise we had a double rainbow in the west and now it is dull and damp.

Eric

30 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I can certainly see the difference, nordski!

 

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning.

We had them same view looking towards Hull (eastwards) but just a while later looking towards Leeds (westwards) we had a beautiful double rainbow, sorry no pictures.

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Thanks Avril.

My doctor wasn't sure so took photos and referred me to the dermatologist as a routine case.

The original appointment was for December 2nd over 3 months later so I rang weekly for an appointment and got yesterday.

We were staying 2 nights in Harrogate so I drove back to Sunderland for the 9.40pm appointment yesterday then we drove back to Harrogate afterwards for our second night away.

We ended up at Junction 32 M62 shopping outlet yesterday.

I hope you and Frank are well.

Graham.

We called at junction 32 the other day and were very disappointed, most of the shop's that we liked are gone.

We had not been since Covid and will not be rushing back, York outlet if far better but we still prefer the York town centre to any outlet.

Eric

Many hotels are not even servicing rooms during your stay at the present time.

Rooms  are deep cleaned when vacant and they do not enter your room at all unless you specially request it.

They ask you to request anything that you need and it is left outside your room or you can collected it from reception.

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

We went to a cremation a few years ago where the music played at the end of the service was Madness's One Step Beyond.  All went silent at first, a bit surprised/stunned.  Then a low chuckle could be heard.  It was music from his era, as was for a lot of his friends.  I also thought of it as his subtle way of saying who knows what happens afterwards.

Has we left the crematorium after my Sons funeral 2 years ago we had Pink Floyd's We Wish You Were Here played.

It was the sort of music playing in our home has he was growling up in the 1970s and he would have loved it..

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

The last two remaining coal fired stations will be shut within the next twelve  months. 

Absolute nincompoopery when our power supplies are on a knife edge.

I believe this problem goes back to the privatization of the Industry, there has been very little forward planning since then, just short term profit taking.

20 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Not looking good, is it.  We've known about this possibility, indeed likelihood, for several years - it's been very well trailed.  Unfortunately, though, as with Coronavirus, we've had a series of governments with their heads stuck firmly in the sand.

Exactly, we have been relying on old infrastructure and past investments for years.

Most of our newer plants are Gas Fired and now very expensive to run, last week they ran some old Coal Stations because of the Gas prices. Wind and Solar have a part to play but can never be used for base load.

We urgently need new Nuclear Stations has the remaining Coal ones will soon be closing.

On 9/14/2021 at 5:13 PM, Harry Peterson said:

Annoying that's the end of our pretty good (was) fixed price for the winter!

 

Anyone else with either of these two?

 

Energy suppliers People's Energy and Utility Point have both ceased trading today, affecting more than half a million households. If you're with either firm, your energy supply will continue and credit balances are protected. But DON'T switch now – sit tight and wait until your new supplier has contacted you. 

 

Households supplied by People's Energy, which has about 350,000 customers, and Utility Point, which has 220,000 customers, will be transferred to a new supplier, which is yet to be announced. In the meantime, your supply will continue as normal and energy regulator Ofgem says any credit balances will be protected.

The energy situation is only going to get worse this winter,

The cross channel link has had to be shut down due a fire and even when back on it will only operate at half capacity this winter.

The link was supposed to be to allow power to flow both ways but we are importing French Nuclear Energy constantly because we no longer have enough of our own generation capacity.

One or our favourites are Bodnant Gardens a National Trust property in the Conwy Valley North Wales. 

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I'm sure every profession is different. 

Interesting to note that when I go shopping in Lidl and Aldi,  there are posters everywhere for job opportunities at all levels in those store groups.

 

It's the same in the hospitality section, in York most Restaurants and Hotels are struggling to recruit staff.

1 minute ago, MNgardens said:

We were in a N2 on deck 8 and had a terrible night due to vibrations on an Australia and NZ cruise.  We heard through the grapevine the next day that the ships had a long distance to go and had been fighting a strong current. The more central staterooms did not have as much shaking; we could feel it getting worse as we walked towards the aft from the elevators. It was really awful and left the three of us feeling very sick and we hardly slept. I think this was on the Quest.

 

The only way I would get another stateroom in that vicinity would be if the cruise does not have any stretches of distance to cover. I don't want to repeat this ever.

That can be a problem on all the ship's but only when traveling at full speed for some reason.

It's never been a problem for us at normal cruising speed and we prefer cabins at the stern.